Entrepreneurs are the Bricks and Mortar that hold our World Together

So true! Tonight, January 19, 2017, was another gorgeous night here in Downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. Once again at our Entrepreneur Social Club HQ, NOVA 535. Lots of newcomers, many returning champions, smiles and great energy all around. Come join us on another fun and productive night of laughs, learning, drinking, amazing food, and some truly priceless moments! Learn how entrepreneurs are the bricks and mortar holding our world together. Let’s Rock-n-Rolla!

Upon entry to NOVA 535 you’re greeted by the beauty of our 1920 built, meticulously renovated building and to the warm smiles of bartender Vanessa. Grab yourself a drink and make some new friends. The ESC is all about networking and connecting to other like-minded, positive people. You don’t have to own a business, you just have to leave your religion and politics at home – both forbidden by club rules. It’s the secret sauce that keeps us all working TOGETHER, peacefully since 2009. Pictured above with Vanessa is Kym Jenkins, my amazing pal and owner of TheFlavorCrate.com. Welcome to NOVA 535! Keep NOVA in mind for your upcoming corporate event, product launch party, wedding, film shoot and of course holiday parties! Let’s get started!

And thanks Julia (seated next to James above) for inviting him to ESC. He’s based in Clearwater and is developing 2 ideas for the cosmetology field, which has been his specialty for the last 42 years. His company is Salon and Beauty Source. James discussed trust, when meeting Julia and again tonight, as it’s so important to tell the truth. He wouldn’t reveal exactly what the plans are, but his new products will be marketed to Beauty Professionals. We are here to help, best of luck James!

Two of our lovely newcomers tonight (above) are home health care industry ladies. Stephanie Carrington (above left) owner of carringtonscaringangels.com offering home health care, CCA staffing, companions, CNAs, LPNs, training, private duty nursing and more. Her friend and fellow Entrepreneur is Crystal Eva, who is opening a group home called Peaceful Palace LLC, to offer support and assistance to people with disabilities. Welcome to the ESC ladies! Below is our favorite hat mogul, the delightful Kathi Harris founder of Hat-A-Tude. She’s next to her pal and ours, Jacob Chak. Ladies if you are even thinking about investing in a hat, Kathi is your first call.

Below in red is Yancy Hudson, he’s collecting success knowledge, and wants to be a millionaire. He is trying to get his own vision board worked out. Yancy has a lot of ideas and we are working with him to get them out, organized and into one concise clear and compelling pitch. The One Page Millionaire, secrets and success stories on one page….is where we are now. Keep coming to ESC Yancy! If you put in the work and are a good student, as we all try to be, you WILL be successful. To Yancy’s right is longtime pal, Nick Mazeika, aka “Mr. I’m You When You Can’t Be”. Evening Gents!!

Pictured above is Mitchel A. Rabsatt Jr. who is working out his ideas towards creating a successful sports clothing lifestyle company for men. Mitchel wants to do product development; we suggest start by getting your ideas and info out, suck up all the feedback you can and continue to build your tribe. Chris Jenkins says to create a buyer persona. Who is my ideal customer? Also find products to endorse. Develop yourself as a channel and influencer.

Kathi Harris, who has had a successful hat company for decades, Sell the solution. Sitting next to Mitchel (pictured below) is Eve Landman who produces family entertainment for Feld Entertainment, and if I remember correctly, she also worked with Disney. We didn’t get to chat much, however, I do hope that Eve comes back soon.

Hugging Eve is our favorite ESC promoter and “Mr. I’ll Help You With Anything”, Jeff Sassano. Jeff’s newest venture is Insight Consulting Group, they do guerrilla marketing and charity events, quite well for sure. Welcome back Jeff! And on the far right, smiling in blue stripes with glasses, is another newcomer (thanks to Jeff) Jason Silverstein. Jason is an 18+ year Real Estate broker associate, currently with Allison James Estates and Homes. Welcome Jason.

All the way at the far end of the table is another newcomer, Susan Wade, a retired support staffer with 30 years in the legal field. She was so kind, and wanted to meet Chris Jenkins since they had never met outside of FB. Susan showed up tonight with a really nice birthday gift for him. Thanks so much from Chris and the entire ESC family! Also down on my end of the table (top right, light blue shirt and shaved head) is Tony LaPorta of TonyLaPorta.com. Tony was in the trading pits for… let’s just say a long time, is now writing about the financial markets. Of course he doesn’t have a business card…ForGETaboutIT!! Just go to TonyLaPorta.com!

Above, Julia holds another delightful piece (in progress) by Evan Niemann, a local DTSP artist for over 12 years. Evan charges for his custom made artwork, only what people think it’s worth. So we purchased myartyourprice.com tonight during ESC. Like I did with 5DollarFacials.com months ago. MyArtYourPrice.com is now working, check it out!

Above, Daniel Nyiri founder of 4U-Fitness, offers advice towards a successful book launch to first time author, Stephanie Wynn (holding notebook on left), founder of WynnBusinessSolutions.com.

Stephanie is a small business consultant, who is just about to publish her first book called “Readi-Set Go”. Why did she write this book? “I wanted to help others, like myself, after starting several businesses. I decided to use a publisher, to help me get this right, also for support. Plus I’m too busy. I’m paying for them to do everything, promo, etc. Readi-Set Go will be amazon and available as an audio book.” She found the ESC while searching for the perfect venue for her book launch party. Well I certainly agree Stephanie, historic venue NOVA 535 is the perfect DTSP (that”s Downtown St. Pete) event space for your book launch. Let’s talk!

Stephanie was motivated to write her book to share the process and tricks for what she’s learned about ‘How Do I Start My Own Business’. Bravo Stephanie!

Also offering advice and support is our favorite spicy lady Kym Jenkins, founder of TheFlavorCrate.com

Back again is eCommerce consultant Jacob Chak, founder of jchak.com, nice business card Jacob. Flanked by newcomers Tim Macking (pictured above on right) the IT Director of Fairwarning. Fairwarning has enjoyed their last 4 company holiday parties here at NOVA 535, and we LOVE them! What a delightful group of people!! (Looking forward to having them back December 2017.) Tim is working on data mining, big data, etc. We discuss the IoT (Internet of Things) and more. It’s always nice to have another tech guru in the house, welcome Tim!

To our right is Jason Deutsch, he started Healthful Hydration, is an eCommerce expert; importing and reselling here stateside. His newest venture, in the health and fitness zone, is a vibration foam roller, called inviberon.com. He uses Alibaba which has streamlined the process. Chris Jenkins asked about having a Mandarin speaker on team, his answer was no need, using Alibaba was working well.

Chris Jenkins, CDO of our local powerhouse Symphony Agency, above in full Gandalf mode, enjoys a moment with Mitchel. Tonight Chris discussed trust with some powerful questions we all need to both ask and answer. Am I capable to delivering on time? In full for what we/you are expecting?

Inside of your invoices and contracts, he suggest we remove the fluff, talk clearly and plainly and focus on trust. See the ESC Blog by Nick “Trust Me I’m in Sales”. Also please people, get your domain through google (or Godaddy), then make sure to use INFO/SALES@YOURurl.com, using masking or an email alias. Stop using a different email address than your URL. Please!!

NOT LIKE THIS: thisIsMyCompanyURL@gmail.com. Instead use masking / an email alias. Confused?? Show up and ask us!

Once I finally got everyone rounded up, like herding cats Entrepreneurs are, we headed over to one of our very favorite DTSP restaurants, Brick and Mortar. Brick and Mortar is located at 539 Central Avenue, 727-822-6540, open for dinner only. If you haven’t been yet, get over there ASAP! Their private dining room is perfect for us, and we love their staff, fresh delicious menu and delightful owners Hope and Chef Jason.

Chef Jason’s famous octopus appetizer (above) and the beef ragu (below) both SO DELICIOUS!

Tonight I enjoyed (pictured below) the rack of lamb special – amazing! Above is one of Brick and Mortar’s yummy flat breads! They do everything so well here, fresh and delicious. Don’t get snooty with my photography, I’m running the meeting, taking photos, and blogging, all for free. Plus drinking lots of vino coupled with our infamous alley tours…translation…their food tastes MUCH BETTER than my (decent) photos portray.

As always Chef Jason comes out to check on us, this time while Chris is holding court. We Entrepreneurs are the ones that venture into the unknown, creating the new, exploring and doing our best, to juggle all of the ideas, responsibilities, and stresses each day.

So it’s a wonderful way to share and blow steam off with fellow business owners. With other people who truly get it. There is so much comedic gold that comes out of our mouths during dinner that it’s something you just have to experience firsthand. Chris and I were in typical form; here he’s deep into one of his stories, which vacillate between: that’s so interesting and I didn’t know that to wondering if he really just said that. That’s one of the many many, MANY reasons we all love Chris dearly.

Nick Mazeika, sitting between Chris with Gandalf style hair and Mandy Keys, owner of the delicious and so cute Community Cafe at 2444 Central Avenue, isn’t drinking tonight. So Nick’s POV is of how silly and wound up we (and he) typically gets. Watch Nick’s face as Chris digs deeper and deeper into whatever yarn he’s spinning at the moment. This club is so much fun!!!!! We learn and grow every week, we create a lot of new business among ourselves AND we truly enjoy our time together. It’s so rewarding enjoying nights like these…why I continue to host the Entrepreneur Social Club, every Thursday since 2009. Join us!!!!

After we’ve finished dining, we (well I) always try to buy another glass / bottle of tinto vino; as the atmosphere at BnM is so relaxing, yet never boring. It reminds me of NOVA and my home, a place you always feel comfortable and welcome. A place among family and friends. Julia, toasting me, I’m behind my Canon 6D. Below her series of facial expressions is priceless. She ordered the wine, thinking I was paying (Julia we talked about that) and then the bill came to her. Her face, looking beautiful as always – check out her organic facials at 5DollarFacials.com – is hilarious as she is confronted with the bill.

Tonight January 19, 2017 was another shining example of how Entrepreneurs are the Bricks and Mortar that hold our World Together. Thanks for spending some time with us, we hope to see you Thursday nights 6 pm to 830 pm (most always at NOVA 535), then for dinner and more drinks Downtown St. Pete. Check our exact meeting location here.

Born on April Fools Day in St. Pete, Florida, I’ve always loved learning, exploring, and making things better. Since completing my MBA in 1993, I’ve bought, renovated, and leased over a hundred historic buildings. Along the way, I realized my hometown deserved a unique event space, so I built a world-class venue called NOVA 535, which I’ve run since 2008. In the process, I developed “The NOVA Way”, a system of continuous improvement for business.In 2009, needing the company of like-minded folks, I created the Entrepreneur Social Club, a network of business owners from around the world who meet every Thursday to collaborate, mentor, and share knowledge. Now, traveling around the world (87 countries and counting), I’m using the expertise I’ve gained from throwing over a thousand 5 star weddings, parties, and events to consult with business owners worldwide, showing them how to achieve world-class service and operations in their business. My first book “It’s 5 AM Go Home!” gives step by step guidance on how to throw amazing events and the soon to be launched Customer Service College will provide formal coursework for business owners who want to achieve 5-star service.I’ve discovered we all face the same problems, and that when we work together, we all win. So let’s work together!Michael@MichaelSNovilla.com